Slagging on the Cubs for not winning a World Series in a long time is pretty stale by now. We get it. It’s been forever. Blah blah blah.

But once in a while you get a fresh take on it. Like this one from Steve Rushin in Sports Illustrated, who manages to reference Harriet Tubman, Napoleon, sliced bread, the Tunguska Event, the Comet Morehead, Merkle’s Boner and a bunch of other stuff to give us a take on the 1908 Cubs that is very different from one we’ve heard before.

I’m still partial to Cait Murphy’s “Crazy ’08” as far as this story goes, but this one is worth exploring. If for no other reason than the thought process that gets Rushin through his theory is kind of like those little episodes of connected thoughts we all get when we space out and wonder how we ended up thinking about Z when we began thinking about A, and then try to retrace the thread.

A lot of teams do funny promo videos during spring training. The Seattle Mariners have led the league in this category for years now, with their marketing and p.r. folks producing and a lot of game and sometimes hammy players starring in some excellent clips. They’re doing them again this year, if you’re curious.

The Milwaukee Brewers have hopped on the humor train in 2018, and their latest entry in this category of commercials is excellent. It’s their riff on “The Sandlot.”

The biggest difference: Smalls really could kill you in this one. Brett Phillips is a lot more jacked than the kid who played Scotty in the original was.